Comments on older stories.

Forgot to mention another incentive for receiving comments on older stories. Sometimes the comment will make a suggestion or request for a follow-up. I've got a file of random plot ideas and there have been a couple of times recently when I've been able to wedge an idea into a follow-up story rather than having to create a whole new backfill. That thought might not have occurred to me without the new comment.

Plus, I reference it as a follow-up to "x" in an author's note, which hopefully inspires a few people to find and read the original it's spinning off from. So it's a way to boost interest in an old story, which might then generate a new comment on the old story ... and repeat...

I agree with mj2001, a number of stories deserve follow-ups and are worth reading on their own.

I personally didn't start submitting stories until June 2017. However, I love it when I get comments from some of my earlier efforts. MJ2001 is right, sometimes people do suggest new directions to take the characters in, or in one instance to insist on payback for an antagonist who caused a lot of trouble. I will get around to that one some day.

'Mild sense of panic'? No way! Mild sense of elation would be nearer the mark. For me, it's always a pleasure to have someone commenting on a story I wrote 7 or 8 years ago. And as a reader, I love using the Lucky Dip.

Since I pretty much don't write anymore, or haven't written in years, all my stories are probably considered as old. But I am amazed at how many comments I still get from time to time. Not a ton, but enough to make me appreciative that there are people who come across one of my old stories, take time to read it and are thoughtful enough to make a comment. That always makes me fell good, and very thankful.

Are suggestions for follow-on stories generally welcomed by authors, or are they just an unwelcome distraction?

Out of the large numbers of stories I have read, there are several outstanding characters and scenarios that in my opinion deserve further stories. But since many of them were written several years ago it appears that the authors of those stories either don't feel the same way about them, or don't have the inspiration or the time to write a follow-on story.

In my case I certainly don't mind, particularly if the reader has a question or suggestion of where things might go from there. I might not use that exact idea but it might inspire me to veer off in another direction or use that concept in a different story.

For example, I recently posted the first part of a story about a girl getting sentenced to punishment at a Judicial Center with a threatened follow-up punishment from her dad as the second part (just posted today). As part of the story, her mother helps walk her through the process because she suffered through the same indignity herself several months earlier.

One of the readers posed a question I hadn't considered: dad was livid at his daughter and planned to wreak havoc on her backside as a result, but had he responded that same way earlier when his wife got caught doing essentially the same thing? Until that point I had no intentions of continuing the saga any further, but that comment inspired me to create a prequel that tells mom's experience and dad's reaction to it (thanks to Hoddle you can expect to eventually see "Mom's Visit to the Judicial Center").

So as far as I'm concerned, feel free to toss out any comments you might have.

I enjoy meandering through the bookcases and finding stories that I did not read. I try to comment on most of the stories I read, I check old stories for my prior comments. In any case, I enjoy reading the old stories whether it is a reread or one that fell through the cracks, try it, it is a ball. Peace.

I absolutely agree with Phil. All my stories are old, and the sense that someone has actually read one without me plugging it cynically in the forum is a real delight

Today, a reader took the trouble to comment on two of my older stories I'm wondering if he was encouraged him to do by reading my comments at the start of this thread.